The Triangle Regional Resiliency Partnership was formed to address the need for a resilience assessment in the Triangle region of North Carolina. NEMAC is guiding the partnership in assessing, planning, and prioritizing resilience-building strategies.

Communities across the Southeast are recognizing an increasing need to plan for the future as they face both climate- and non-climate-related threats. As a result, communities in the Triangle region of North Carolina are turning to resilience assessments to develop strategies for reducing their vulnerability and risk to impacts from extreme weather events (such as Hurricane Matthew), climate change, and non-climate stressors (such as growth and development).

The Triangle Regional Resiliency Partnership (TRRP) was formed from six distinct government entities in the Triangle region—Cary, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Orange County, Durham, and Durham County—to address the need for a regional resilience assessment. With the Triangle J Council of Governments acting as the facilitative entity, the TRRP has partnered with NEMAC to guide the partnership through a framework of assessing, planning, and prioritizing resilience-building strategies.

Applying the Steps to Resilience

The Steps to Resilience framework, developed collaboratively by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NEMAC, begins by exploring climate- and non-climate-related threats and impacts to key regional assets. This is followed by a quantifiable evaluation of exposure, vulnerability, and risk (scoping), which leads to identifying actionable and prioritized options. The end deliverable will be a shared vision of how the Triangle region can address future change, detailed in a report that can be integrated into member jurisdictional frameworks—such as comprehensive and/or hazard mitigation plans.

Engagement and Facilitation

Cross-sectoral and regional engagement is key. The project's success relies on representatives from a diverse set of jurisdictional departments participating in the facilitated planning process. Each jurisdictional department—such as Planning, Public Works, Stormwater, etc.—contributes its own understanding of assets (such as people, infrastructure, and other resources) and helps determine the criteria to be used for assessing vulnerability and risk.

Having the Triangle J Council of Governments involved in the process as a neutral entity keeps the playing field level and provides an appropriate conduit for any concerns or questions.